Technologies
Technologies are upgrades to Units that can benefit the battle and it is accessible via Headquarters. There are currently 12 technologies to upgrade and they are: Infantry Units, Artillery Units, Armored Units, Forts, Ship units, Aircraft units, Supply, Anti-Aircraft, Missile, Nukes, shuttle launch plans and the satelite weapon. infantry, armored, artillery and navy units are pretty straight forward. upgrades increase damage and shield penetration, and on certain levels will increase the starting veterancy of these units. forts increases their effectiveness as well, though overall i feel like this section has the lowest overal returns on investment. supply increases the health regeneration of your units while standing idle inside a city. +8, for example, means all units inside of any city will receive an 8 health return per turn they remain in the city. combining this with the supply skill on generals, along with air-strike skills can be very effective in creating defensive juggernaughts. anti air craft is a little less straight forward. anti aircraft weapons must be built in an owned tile or city, and as you upgrade you increase the damage each one does, and also increase the number you can build on each tile, up to a maximum of 4. each "tier" of AA weapons also increases the number of aircraft weapon types they can defend against. tier 1 cannot defend vs airborne troops, for example, and tier 2 cannot defend vs missile weapons. tier three is the best, but comes at the cost of a HUGE material cost increase compared with tier 2. missile upgrades likewise make certain tiers of missiles available, as well as increasing their range and damage. nukes also receive an increase to damage, while unlocking different ones as you upgrade. barring the total lack of explanation as to what the "shuttle launch plans" do, air craft are the least straight forward. each upgrade to aircraft will take turns upgrading one of a few aspects. you may upgrade aircraft damage, which affects the damage done by your air raids, or you can upragde the range of your aircraft attack zone. or you may upgrade your paratrooper level. this last one is the least clear. unlike other troop types this does not increase the veterancy of these units, rather it upgrades the TYPE of unit you are paradropping. you start off with basic infantry, then upgrade to assault, then mechanized infantry, and then commando (special forces) units. overall your goal is to get to commando or mechanized. mechanized are less powerful than commandos and 50% more expensive compared to their base price when produced in a city (150 gold and 40 fuel, compared to 100 gold and 25 steel when purchased in a city) whereas commandos are the same gold price, but exchange steel cost for fuel (150 gold and 40 fuel when paradropped compared to 150 gold and 45 steel when made in a city). note that the upgrades to your INFANTRY technology affects the damage of these paradropped units, but NOT their veterancy, they will remain at base veterancy level. the tradeoff for commandos is that compared to mechanized infantry they have a paltry movement range. with commandos you gain; more health, more damage, better combat effectiveness, and the possibility of a longer range when paradropping (9 vs 8 with mechanized). but as a tradeoff mechanized troops have almost twice the movement points. once upgraded, there is no possibility of downgrading, so make this choice with a good bit of thought beforehand as to whether combat prowess or tactical versatility is more important to you. the satellite upgrades your energy based satellite weapon, which with extensive upgrades becomes EXTREMELY powerful. upgrades increase either damage or cooldown rate (can re-use in fewer turns). the satellite weapon, while useful, is not available in the challenge missions.